Constructing female security in the case of the shiv sena mahila aghadi in mumbai, india

(Accessed: 16 November 2016).

53^ Ibid.

54^ “Shiv Sena, the regional political party was established today: All you should know about the party and its emergence with time,” India Today, June 19, 2015, http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/story/all-you-need-to-know-about-shiv-sena/1/445740.html (Accessed: 7 December 2016). Article originates from New Delhi.

55^ A facebook page called “BAN Shiv Sena” has 34,213 likes. “BAN Shiv Sena,” facebook page, active since February 2010, accessed: December 7, 2016, https://www.facebook.com/BAN-Shiv-Sena-296699900777/; “Exit Polls Predict BJP Surge, Party Set to Form Government in Haryana, Maharashtra” (News18.com, 2014), accessed December 7, 2016, http://www.news18.com/videos/politics/exit-poll-lead-720385.html.

56^ Ritika Tiwari, Tweet, July 25, 2016 (3:14 a.m.), accessed December 7, 2016, https://twitter.com/indianscrewup/status/757519363943596033.

57^ I draw on the work of Schwart-Shea and Yanow to understand exposure. Peregrine Schwartz-Shea and Dvora Yanow. Interpretive Research Design: Concepts and Processes (New York: Routledge, 2012), 84-85.

58^ Ibid, 84-85. One key example of intertextuality is President Mukherjee’s statement following the rape and murder of a woman in New Delhi in 2013: “When we brutalize a woman, we wound the soul of our civilization.”^ Here, audience members can only understand the full significance of this statement (a nod to the sanctity of women in Hinduism), if they have knowledge of Hinduism and India’s religious background.

59^ “Shiv Sena’s Women’s Wing Takes Law Into Their Own Hands” (India Today, June 13 2013), accessed November 16, 2016, http://indiatoday.intoday.in/video/shiv-sena-tehsildar-dhule-maharashtra-rana-bribe-sexual-favours/1/286188.html; Neha Thirani Bagri. “What Female Voters Say About Women’s Safety in Mumbai,” New York Times, April 23 2014, (Accessed: 16 November 2016)

60^ This Facebook page has been liked by 34,050 people. “BAN Shiv Sena,” Facebook page, active since February 2010, accessed: December 7, 2016, https://www.facebook.com/BAN-Shiv-Sena-296699900777/.

61^ I selected all tweets in a thread in which one person tweeted several times a few minutes apart to express a train of thought if they retweeted their previous tweet with each new tweet.

62^ Denang Dave. Tweet, February 13, 2017 (8:53 a.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/DevangVDave/status/831184415971799040.

63^ Balwan Rajput, Facebook post, December 27, 2013, accessed March 27, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/BAN-Shiv-Sena-296699900777/posts_to_page/; Sanjeev Kumar, Facebook post, February 11, 2017, accessed March 27, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/BAN-Shiv-Sena-296699900777/posts_to_page/; Rakesh Sehgal, Facebook post, October 31, 2015, accessed March 27, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/rakesh.sehgal.90/posts/10207177304884672.

64^ Rakesh Sehgal, Facebook post, October 31, 2015, accessed March 27, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/rakesh.sehgal.90/posts/10207177304884672; The Milli Gazette, Facebook post, October 12, 2015, accessed March 27, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/milligazette/posts/1109266842424298; Mumtaz Alam, Facebook post, October 12, 2015, accessed March 27, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/syedmumtazalam/posts/10205470394825280.

65^ Anurag Meharia. Tweet, March 2, 2017 (7:58 p.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/ameharia/status/837512602548899840.

66^ Misha Dhorda. Tweet, February 21, 2017 (5:38 a.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/Mishu27/status/834034508525600770.

67^ Yama. Reply on Twitter to @indianscrewup, July 25, 2016 (4:06 a.m.), accessed March 24, 2017, https://twitter.com/Yamma73190722/status/757532520539828224; Misha Dhorda. Tweet, February 21, 2017 (5:46 a.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/Mishu27/status/834036460177203201.

68^ Denang Dave. Tweet, February 13, 2017 (8:47 a.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/DevangVDave/status/831183067700219905; Denang Dave. Tweet, February 13, 2017 (8:53 a.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/DevangVDave/status/831184415971799040; Misha Dhorda. Tweet, February 21, 2017 (5:38 a.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/Mishu27/status/834034508525600770; Misha Dhorda. Tweet, February 21, 2017 (5:44 a.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/Mishu27/status/834036030193954816; DNA. Tweet, January 27, 2017 (11:14 p.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/dna/status/825240650610208769; Madhuri D. Dusane. Tweet, January 28, 2017 (1:39 a.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/mddusane/status/825277197820841988; Ramesh. Tweet, January 27, 2017 (11:25 p.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/ramesh94_bithar/status/825243467932696576.

69^ Much like symbolic statues of women popularized in the West, such as Lady Liberty and Lady Justice, women are constructed in abstract ways to represent the moral heart of the Indian nation. Following the rape and murder of a student in Delhi, President Mukherjee addressed the attack, saying that “when we brutalize a woman, we wound the soul of our civilization,” equating gender violence to an attack on the very essence of India.^ He is relating a narrative that portrays women as essential and valued for their traditional relation to morality. This is a reference to the belief in the sanctity of women within Hinduism; Yardley, Jim. “‘India Needs to ‘Reset Its Moral Compass,’ President Says,” New York Times, January 25, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/26/world/asia/india-needs-to-reset-its-moral-compass-presidentsays.html?mtrref=undefined&gwh=262A13ACB58C3C4F3E2D2EDE670D4264&gwt=pay (Accessed: 7 December 2016)..

70^ Insa Nolte, for example, explains female participation in violence in Nigeria as based on recognition of women’s role as policers of morality, comparing their vigilante work to the work of mothers disciplining their children (Insa Nolte. “‘Without Women, Nothing Can Succeed’: Yoruba Women in the Oodua People’s Congress,” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 78, 1 (2008), 98); Laurent Fourchard. “A New Name for an Old Practice: Vigilantes in South-Western Nigeria,” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 78, 1 (2008), 16-40; Aaronette White and Shagun Rastogi. “Justice by Any Means Necessary: Vigilantism among Indian Women,” Feminism & Psychology, Vol. 19, 3 (2009), 313-327.

71^ “Shiv Sena power” (Youtube, 2016), accessed March 2, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B03gpUaQxtc.

72^ “BMC election 2017: Women are safe in Mumbai because of Shiv Sena, says party MP Arvind Sawant” (India Today, 2017), accessed March 2, 2017, http://indiatoday.intoday.in/video/bmc-election-2017-civic-polls-shiv-sena-mp-arvind-sawant/1/889588.html.

73^ Alakshya. Tweet, February 21, 2017 (6:16 a.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/alakshya2/status/834044210814803969; Gorhe, Dr. Neelam. Tweet, February 9, 2017 (3:26 a.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/neelamgorhe/status/829652604271616000; Siddhesh Sawant. Tweet, February 4, 2017 (12:54 a.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/siddheshsawant_/status/827802572626857984; Siddhesh Sawant. Tweet, February 4, 2017 (12:58 a.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/siddheshsawant_/status/827803542182191105; Tiwari, Ritika. Tweet, July 25, 2016 (3:14 a.m.), accessed December 7, 2016, https://twitter.com/indianscrewup/status/757519363943596033.

74^ “Shiv Sena gives knives to women,” Gulf News, January 24, 2013, http://gulfnews.com/news/asia/india/shiv-sena-gives-knives-to-women-1.1137268. (Accessed: March 23, 2017); DNA correspondent, “Shiv Sena activists distribute chilli powder to women commuter,” DNA, December 26, 2012, http://www.dnaindia.com/pune/report-shiv-sena-activists-distribute-chilli-powder-to-women-commuters-1781813.

75^ Manasi Phadke, “BMC results: Worrying signs for Shiv Sena despite victory in citadel Mumbai,” Hindustan Times, February 24, 2017 (Accessed: March 28, 2017)

76^ “Shivsena Raigadzilha Mahila Aghadi,” Facebook page, accessed March 28, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/MATAHIRKANI?fref=nf.

77^ “BMC election 2017: Women are safe in Mumbai because of Shiv Sena, says party MP Arvind Sawant”; Staff Reporter, “Now, Pune mannequins incur Shiv Sena ire,” The Hindu, June 8, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/now-pune-mannequins-incur-shiv-sena-ire/article4793611.ece (Accessed: March 31, 2017).

78^ Staff Reporter, “Now, Pune mannequins incur Shiv Sena ire”; “Shiv Sena’s women’s wing takes law into their own hands” (Headlines Today, 2013), accessed March 2, 2017, http://indiatoday.intoday.in/video/shiv-sena-tehsildar-dhule-maharashtra-rana-bribe-sexual-favours/1/286188.html; Sara Gates. “Shiv Sena Party Gives Knives to Women for Protection in India,” The World Post, January 15 2013, (Accessed: December 7, 2016);

79^ “Shiv Sena’s women’s wing takes law into their own hands” (Headlines Today, 2013), accessed March 2, 2017, http://indiatoday.intoday.in/video/shiv-sena-tehsildar-dhule-maharashtra-rana-bribe-sexual-favours/1/286188.html.

80^ Ibid.

81^ Haas et al., 387-413; Justice Tankebe and Muhammad Asif, “Police legitimacy and support for vigilante violence in Pakistan,” International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, Vol. 40, 4 (2016), 295-314; Amy E. Nivette. “Institutional Ineffectiveness, Illegitimacy, and Public Support for Vigilantism in Latin America,” American Society of Criminology, Vol. 54, 1 (2016), 142-175.

82^ Mankikar, “Mahila Aghadi, Sena’s women’s army that even scared the govt”; Aaronette White and Shagun Rastogi. “Justice by Any Means Necessary: Vigilantism among Indian Women,” Feminism & Psychology, Vol. 19, 3 (2009), 313-327; Tarini Bedi. “The Dashing Ladies of the Shiv Sena,” Economic and Political Weekly 43, no. 17 (2007), 1534-1541.

83^ Parisha Sarnaik. Tweet, February 8, 2017 (2:53 a.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/parishapsarnaik/status/829281989098352641; Neelam Gorhe. Tweet, August 31, 2015 (9:59 a.m.), accessed March 24, 2017, https://twitter.com/neelamgorhe/status/638395794924552192.

84^ Siddhesh Sawant. Tweet, February 4, 2017 (1:01 a.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/siddheshsawant_/status/827804353608101888; Siddhesh Sawant. Tweet, February 4, 2017 (12:58 a.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/siddheshsawant_/status/827803542182191105; Equal representation over equality is emphasized here: Sumita Sarkar. Tweet, January 23, 2017 (10:02 a.m.), accessed March 2, 2017, https://twitter.com/sumitasarkarTOI/status/823591703810605056.

85^ Neelam Gorhe. Tweet, August 31, 2015 (9:59 a.m.), accessed March 24, 2017, https://twitter.com/neelamgorhe/status/638395794924552192.

86^ David Pratten. “‘The Thief Eats His Shame’: Practice and Power in Nigerian Vigilantism,” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 78, 1 (2008), 64-83; Fourchard, 16-40.

87^ Sayli Udas Mankikar. “Mahila Aghadi, Sena’s women’s army that even scared the govt,” Hindustan Times, November 19 2012, (Accessed: November 16, 2016).

88^ Datta, 323-342.